


The Potter Case File

by Anonymous



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Death Eaters, Framing, Gen, Harry is a Little Shit, Interrogation, Misunderstandings, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Serial Killers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24386965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: When Harry vacations in Northern America, somebody there starts killing off ex-Death Eaters who have escaped the Ministry's reach. Unfortunately, that same somebody starts pinning the blame on Harry. And with the looks of it, the BAU has never seen anybody more high-risk and guilty than Harry Potter.
Comments: 82
Kudos: 373
Collections: Anonymous





	1. The Character Analysis

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! I'm on Fanfiction.net as Ostler and if you would be so kind to leave a review either here or there, I'd be very grateful. I hope you enjoy the story!

"He definitely shows a history experiencing abuse," Reid begins. He stares down at his current notes and glances through the one-way window before turning more decisively towards his colleagues. He’s standing and feels tired but makes no move to take the empty chair to his right.

"His height and weight are unhealthy considering his age and considering legal records regarding his parents' physicalities. Plus, in his most recent full body check-up, multiple types of scarring was found littered around his skin.” Reid stops to breath and Morgan takes over in the report.

“Elementary school records say he was a delinquent but we found some notes from one that expressed concern over Harry's weight and eyesight. I really do think he fits the profile for the unsub, but he seems too… thin," Morgan finishes. He sits in his chair and looks over the information they have on twenty-year-old Harry Potter, virtually nothing compared to what they have of the man’s earlier years.

The rest of the team nods in agreement, and Rossi adds,

"Weak, you mean? He doesn't look like the type to be able to take a knife and cut so cleanly and deeply into a person, nor does he look like he would know how to dump a body,"

JJ shakes her head in disagreement. She turns her own notes around, slides it across to the men, and shows them her own set of highlighted and margin-filled notes.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, his kitchen in the summer home held a collection of well-taken care of and high-quality chefs knives. He also owns a well-used knife sharpener that suggests a proficiency and understanding in handling them. He’s ridiculously organized and clean which corresponds with the near-perfect and consistent positioning of the bodies, " JJ explains.

"It wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume he was taught to cook and clean during his early childhood, as the bank records of the relatives he stayed with suggest a want for traditional homemade cooking. There are little occurrences in payments to restaurants that weren't fancy. His uncle, Vernon Dursley, had a high-paying job at a drilling company but lost it do to anger management issues. That's another point towards child abuse," Rossi says.

"Is there any way we can talk to them? Maybe get a few statements?" JJ asks.

"That’d be ideal, but they seem to have been off the grid for two years," Rossi says.

"Well, that's not suspicious at all!" Morgan says sarcastically. "Any leads on them? Does it look like they were killed or does it seem like they went into hiding? Victim Protection maybe?" Morgan asks. He flips through his copy of papers and confusedly pulls out the forms regarding Harry's past guardians. Penelope walks in then with a tablet and a glowing face,

"I tried to find any trace of them, but they really  _ are _ off the grid! It should be impossible with my fantastic skills but there’s literally _ nothing _ related to them. No banking, nothing going on with their empty house in Surrey, and apparently Vernon Dursley's sister was put into jail for illegal dog breeding. There’s nothing else about them anywhere! Not even a recorded face or social media presence on the part of their son," Penelope says as she swipes madly on her tablet.

"Any way Potter could have been responsible? Any mysterious payments? Was he investigated for their disappearances? Does he have a lawyer he uses multiple times throughout his life?" Reid asks Penelope, his eyes are sharp as he looks down at the list of relations regarding Harry Potter. Specifically, he looks at the name "Sirius Black" that is printed under "guardians.”

"Oh! He does! He used the same lawyer, Hestia Jones- she doesn't seem to have an online presence for some reason- for two separate cases, the most recent being the Dursley's disappearance, which was a cut and clean trial- Harry had been at a boarding school the entire time with many people vouching for his presence- and the former being about-" Penelope tuts and opens a few more windows on her tablet.

"-Aha! A previously sealed, unsealed by me of course, case regarding the innocence of… mass-murderer...Sirius Black. Wow, umm, he was imprisoned for nearly thirteen years and broke out. Fourteen-year-old Harry paid for Black's attorneys too," Penelope continued with a nod from Rossi,

"He apparently sought out thirteen-year-old Harry and they seemed to have bonded over a summer where Harry was a run-away. In the trial, Black claimed innocence and miraculously won the case. Woah, he held short custody of Harry until his very suspicious death. Harry was ‘forcibly’ sent back to the Dursleys," Penelope finished with short breath and turned the tablet over to show the face of Sirius Black.

"Well, he definitely looks deranged," Morgan commented at the disturbing old photo of Sirius Black staring somewhat off focused from the camera.

Reid is silent for a moment, then he leaps out of his chair and looks curiously at Penelope's screen.

"Do you think Black may have passed any…moral ideologies onto Harry? Or maybe Harry experienced some higher form of physical abuse when in his custody?" Reid asks.

"Well, Harry certainly idolized Black. In the trial, he was very supportive of Black and his statements sound very biased in his favour. 'He's innocent! He would never hurt someone that doesn't deserve it and he's one of the best people I've ever met' is a direct quote of his from the trial. I can't find anything regarding his breakout," Penelope pursed her lips in frustration.

“I see what you’re getting at, Reid, but I don’t think Harry here is acting like a mission-oriented killer. Are there any other police records of Sirius Black?" Rossi asks.

"Give me one second… _ Damn _ . There's a death certificate for sixteen years old, younger brother, Regulus-" "they've got weird names don't you think?" "-but their now-deceased father reported it as a suicide despite the body looking like it was ripped apart by animals pre-mortem. Sirius did not attend the funeral, and Regulus would've been the chosen heir if he wasn't dead," Penelope says.

"There are literally no press records I can find regarding the cases. Strange, since Black's face was broadcasted as a warning when he broke out, and there was lots of news coverage about that. His trial was all very private," Penelope adds.

Reid pauses and looks at the image of Sirius Black's maddened face. Then he looks down at the file they have of Potter. Harry was going to be arriving in Quantico for questioning soon.

"Who was responsible for Potter's arrest again?"


	2. Conflict and Cause

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry's interrogations starts.

This, Harry thought, was one of the stupidest situations he’s ever gotten himself stuck in.

Umbridge had really fucked him over this time. She  _ has  _ to be the reason the last few days have been utter hell for him, right?. And yeah, he did kind of leave her to the Merlin-knows-how-much mercy of the centaurs, but if he's being honest they probably punish more fairly than the Ministry of Magic. 

What did she do this time? Well, she dropped him to the American muggle police force and framed him for a handful of murders. He  _ knows  _ it’s her. It has to be her, she’s the only enemy he has left that’s ever used the government against him. Well, to his knowledge.

MACUSA and the Ministry Of Magic tried their best to get him back after finding out about Umbridge's little project when a couple of muggle-born officers saw his face blasted across the television. Only, they really couldn't do much when it's the FBI who picked him up and dragged him kicking and screaming to "Quantico." Harry feels distinctly displeased that this whole thing was in the press even though he was just a suspect.

And a suspect for what? Well, Harry mentioned murders and he’s tried hard to stay away from death for the last two years, but these murders might actually be connected to him.

Harry looks down at the photos lying before him on the metal table. He’d pick them up if his hands weren't cuffed down, but at least the muggles cleaned his glasses for him.

The photos showed seven different dead bodies. Seven bodies absolutely  _ covered _ in bloody slashes and clean cuts, all placed in the same position.  _ Sectumsempra? Or multiple high-powered cutting charms? _ And more importantly, each body had a rectangle of their left forearm precisely skinned off-  _ multiple intentionally shallow cutting charms or perhaps an actual knife? _ Each forearm would have had a faded dark mark emblazoned upon them, but instead the tattooed skin lay on the ground, always near the body. At least they weren't innocents. Harry recognized one of them for one of the death eaters who kept himself, Ron, and Hermione hostage during the whole snatcher fiasco. And  _ fuck _ , maybe his very not repulsed reaction and very apathetic physical reaction to the photos was bad for his to argue of his innocence.

Well, it's not like Hermione and Ron are actually going to let him get imprisoned. Or  _ stay  _ imprisoned at least.

How did Umbridge do this? She's been fired from the Ministry of Magic ever since Rufus became a minister and Harry knows that she's disliked among the people who were able to stay in the government. Even then, when was she smart enough to pull this kind of thing off? Did she have someone helping her?

He really should have just stayed in Europe instead of attempting to vacation literally anywhere else.

"Hey, are you going to respond or will we have to do this the hard way?" The voice snapped Harry out of his thoughts.

Harry shrugged and slowly looked away from the photos, before studiously directing his focus to his cuffed hands. Merlin, how was he going to go about this? Is there any use for trying to convince them otherwise?

"Answer the question, Mr Potter, do these people look familiar to you?" Agent Morgan says. Harry silently congratulates himself for remembering the agent's name. The agents that arrested Harry were back in California. Apparently, Harry was to be interrogated by "one of the best teams in the BAU."

Harry tilts his head at the photos and exaggeratingly leans forward to squint at them.

"They all look familiar but maybe that’s just me, they all look very average if I’m being honest," Harry says sarcastically. He looks straight into Agent Morgan's eyes and wished he could do some mind magic, but he's naturally gifted at being terrible at it.

At least he can clearly identify the angery annoyance rising in the agent. Harry's lips quirk a little at the way the agent seems to hold in a growl. No offence meant, but it's funny seeing someone point accusing eyes to him for the umpteenth time. Harry hasn't felt truly intimidated ever since his death at the Battle of Hogwarts.

Agent Morgan's mouth opens again, but before any sound comes out, a stern voice filters into the room. It's not as clear as it would've been with magic, and Harry assumes it's some muggle intercom. Harry slumps boredly into the metal chair as Morgan is ordered out of the interrogation room. Soon after, however, another agent comes in.

This new agent introduces himself as Agent Rossi and he's considerably kinder than Morgan. 

"I hope you haven't treated too harshly by my coworkers, Harry, they can get a little too forceful when it comes to cases like this," Agent Rossi says.

Rossi doesn't sit down, but instead carefully walks closer to Harry and unlocks his cuffs. Surprised, Harry stretches his wrists and gently rubs his fingers against the sore areas. Agent Rossi continues,

"You seem smart, Harry, you're just twenty years old and yet you've paid off all your student debt and you're handling your inheritance money really well. You had fairly high scores in school and you currently have all A's in your college classes. You want to go into business, right? You've got recommendations to Hell and back and you aren't even old enough to drink yet! Well, if you are going into business, I guess it's something you'll soon be familiar with," Agent Rossi lists off these little facts with a smile. Harry finds himself preening a little at the genuine-enough praise. Though, the comment at the end made him pause.

"I am old enough to drink though it’s not a thing I like to do," Harry stresses his accent slightly and is unable to keep a calm voice through the whole sentence. Light disdain filters into his voice and Harry frowns at the admission before carefully locking those emotions back into the box they belong. Harry silently wonders what Hogwarts or the Ministry does to cover up the magical school years, but apparently, Harry did well in school and that's nice. Harry springs back into a smile.

"Did you bring in the food just for show, or are you going to share?" Harry asks teasingly. Friendly. Harry just has to appease these people and then he can leave.

Agent Rossi smiles back and pushes the food towards Harry, now that Harry's attention is drawn to the table again, he notices a file placed on Rossi's side of the counter.

"Of course you can eat Harry, we're not here to starve you after all,"

Harry pauses in his calm reach toward the wrapped up hamburger. The way Rossi said that was a little too imploring for his tastes. With more visible annoyance than he'd like to admit, Harry grabs the burger and unwraps it to eat. His other arm lays on the table, separating him and the food from Agent Rossi and his knowing eyes. He takes a bite and ignores the agent.

As he eats, Rossi sighs and apologizes before leaving. Harry takes another hesitant bite at his burger before setting it down and pushing it away.

Feeling a little nauseous at the rising of some unwanted memories, Harry lays his head down on his forearm on the table. His breath feels hot against the cold metal surface. He wants to go home now.

* * *

"He's kind of a dick, in my professional opinion," Morgan says. JJ laughs but looks clinically over Harry through the one-way mirror. Reid does the same.

"Do you think JJ or I could try talking to him? I mean-" Reid pauses and gestures to Harry, "-he definitely doesn't respond well to harshness or authority and I don't think he wants to speak with Rossi or Morgan again," Reid waits expectantly for them to ask him to continue. Rossi nods gestures for Reid to explain.

"When he was alone in the room before Morgan entered, he looked around at the exits and moved his chair back in a way that would comfortably let him stand. He tensed at the references to alcohol and restriction of food. When Rossi gave him food, he kept an arm on the table to separate himself and Rossi. Furthermore, Rossi's older age might be another thing that causes distrust," Reid says. He glances away from his notes and back through the one-way mirror into the room. Harry Potter has his head hidden away but overall, he looked strangely calm. 

"Do we have anybody else we can talk to? Anybody saying things against or for him?" Reid asks.

"Some people on his legal team are flying in a colleague of his that’ll apparently be able to heavily vouch for his innocence. The colleague also claims to have information regarding the case. Surprisingly, they don’t seem to be sending over a lawyer yet," Hotch says.


	3. Ex-Nemesis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry's ex-colleague struts into the BAU and finds the whole situation more unpleasant than expected.

There’s an aristocratic-looking man waiting in Hotch’s office. Out of the corner of his eye, Rossi carefully observes the supposed “colleague” of their suspect.

For one, the expensive suit the man is wearing is new. The suit jacket and pants are dark, almost-black, forest-navy green, and Rossi can see an extremely pale pink dress shirt peeking out from the neck. It’s a strange wardrobe choice in America, so Rossi assumes it’s some sort of trend across the pond. Furthermore, the man’s immaculate hair is so very blonde. It almost looks bleach-blonde, but the strands are too healthy and the roots show no sign of colour difference.

There’s a rustle next to him, and suddenly Reid is standing next to him spouting off information about this man.

“That’s Draco Lucius Malfoy, he’s a lord over in Britain and his family is heavily roped into the politics there. He graduated from the same school our suspect attended. They have some heavy security because Garcia was unable to find any other information about the family, other than a small note concerning the temporary imprisonment of Draco himself and his father.” Reid says.

“His name is Draco? Wow. What information does he have about our case?” Rossi asks.

“Draco. It means dragon, and sometimes serpent in Greek. Um, he hasn’t said anything other than orders for Hotch to speak with him. The government people in Britain say his father knew the victims. Draco himself doesn’t know much about the specifics of the case, but, again, his government claims that he’ll be useful in proving Harry’s innocence.” Reid answers robotically. He clasps his hands behind his back and squints at the man sitting in Hotch’s office. The way Malfoy holds himself is very indicative of rich upbringings. Interestingly, Reid notices Malfoy carefully keeping his skin from touching the chair he’s sitting in. He’s either some form of germaphobic, or he’s assuming this place is dirty.

Reid and Rossi watch Draco slightly perk up as Hotch finally enters the office. 

* * *

“I am Supervisory Special Agent Hotchner, and I was told that you have some information related to my current case. You said that you could vouch for Harry’s innocence? Are you a witness?” Hotch asks. Assessing Malfoy already, Hotch knows that Draco is likely to be a stuck up politician. He reaches out a hand to shake.

Draco snuffs slightly as he looks down at the back of Hotch’s outstretched hand. He carefully raises his own hand and lightly, but swiftly, shakes Hotch's hand. He quickly retracts his hand and folds it into his other hand in his lap.

"Yes, there's no way Potter could've killed those people. I'm not a witness, but I can give some times I've been with Harry throughout the past month that should show that he couldn't have possibly been able to kill so many people-" Draco's curt speech is cut off,

"Exactly, _what_ relationship do you have with Harry Potter?" Hotch asks.

Draco scowls, his hands tense in annoyance before he slips back into his Slytherin tact.

"He's the godfather of my first cousin, once-removed. Potter is also a distant cousin himself," Draco replies. Hotch nods his understanding and gestures for Draco to continue. Draco keeps in a small sneer at the sight before breathing in and continuing.

"At the start of the month, I spent the week in California- at my own private home, by the way- so that I could spend some time with my little cousin. Unfortunately, Harry's too paranoid-" Here, Hotch's eyebrows furrow, "-to let me spend time with _my_ cousin alone. Teddy and I did our best to tire him out by the end of each day. He wouldn't have slipped away and he'd be too tired to go out and kill," Draco's smiling sharply by the end of his alibi for Harry.

Hotch nods silently before asking Draco to repeat that alibi again later, for a digital copy. He doesn't argue further as he stands up and motions for Draco to come with him.

"Can I see him now?" Draco asks impatiently,

Hotch stills and looks over Draco.

"We don't exactly need more from you, and while your information is helpful, it is not enough to grant you permission to speak with our suspect," Hotch answers. He watches a true scowl form on Draco's face.

"A co-worker of mine agrees with you, and she told me to show you this if my information really wasn't good enough," Draco says. Before Hotch can ask exactly what Malfoy means, Draco takes off his suit jacket. He delicately and smoothly begins folding back his shirt sleeves. Underneath it, Hotch recognizes the tattoo on the arm. 

Hotch stands still before sighing. Immediately, He moves to the door of his office and orders Reid and Rossi in. Their attention quickly attaches to Draco's exposed arm. Reid steps forward and leans in slightly to take a look.

"It's exactly the same as the other tattoos. He had the same artist." Reid states. Draco scoffs quietly in reply as he waits idly for them to take him to Harry.

"How old were you when you got this?" Rossi asks. Draco grits his teeth.

"Sixteen," Draco spits. He yanks his arm away from Reid and folds his sleeve back down. He keeps the jacket off. It sits hung over his right forearm. 

"You resent it. Why?" Reid asks.

Draco clearly sneers, smoothing himself down and huffing.

"I'll tell you after I talk with Potter," Darco says with finality.

Reid turns and looks at Hotch. Hotch shrugs and Rossi makes a silent gesture to him.

"Fine. We leave on the recording equipment though, " Hotch responds.

Draco's annoyed face immediately collapses into a smug smile. He carefully doesn't react to whatever 'recording equipment’ is. He's just here to make sure Harry is doing fine- Teddy and those Weasleys worry far too much over this muggle nonsense. If he shows those _Weasleys_ the memories of him helping Harry, maybe they'll back off of Draco himself and stop thinking that he did it.

It's absolutely unfair for them to think he's the bad guy, that he's somehow Slytherin's heir and all that. Suspicious fucks.

Teddy is his last-living, sane cousin. Draco will be damned if he doesn't get to be in Teddy's life. And he knows that Harry is the only one he can properly step over. 

_Merlin, he wants kids so badly. He wants a big family to be proud of. He wants to be the first Malfoy father in centuries to actually give a fuck_.

As Draco is lead to what he assumes is an interrogation room, he carefully ignores the calculating stares of the profilers. They're a bit too much like his old Slytherin classmates; all they want is information. Draco silently observes them too.

They stop at the door to the interrogation room, and Hotch orders 'Morgan' to cuff Harry Potter back up. Draco grins happily at that.

Finally, they let Draco in. The Morgan fellow moves to follow, but Rossi waves him off- mumbling something about 'making Potter comfortable.'

Draco confidently strides into the room and watches delightedly as Harry immediately simmers with annoyance.

The BAU team watches from the other side of the glass window, in a different room.

"Potter! Why are you so glum to see me? I'm here to _help_ after all, " Malfoy opens the conversation with a taunting tone.

"Why the fuck are you here Malfoy-" Harry tiredly sighs and glares down at his re-cuffed hands. "-come to gloat and demand Teddy's custody?" Harry asks scathingly.

Draco frowns and shrugs.

"I _said_ I was here to help, but that's quite a good idea honestly-"

"Why are you helping me?" Harry cuts him off.

Draco hums and moves to sit down on the chair across from Harry. He crosses a leg over the other and shoots Harry a fake grin.

"The Weasleys are worried. Hermione and Ron-" the names inspire a childish motion of gagging in Draco's speech"-think that I somehow have anything to do with this mess. As if _I'm_ more likely to kill somebody than _you_ are, " Draco says. 

Harry scowls and relaxes back in his chair. Then Harry has some sort of epiphany and leans forward teasingly.

"Teddy guilted you into doing this, didn't he?" Harry teases. Draco is still for a moment. His lips pressed into a thin line.

"...he'd be a good Slytherin, " Draco responds petulantly.

Draco sneers and looks away from Potter. Unfortunately, his eyes land on the photos on the steel table. He abruptly stands and pulls them closer.

Draco ignores Harry and carefully tries to put names to these death eaters. He stands tense and silent for a moment.

" _What did you do, Potter?"_ Draco calmly asks. His voice is laced with a touch of fear.

Harry scoffs and leans back in his chair.

"You think I did it too, now? Why the hell would I-”

Draco backs away from the table but keeps some of the photos in his hand.

"You think I don't remember what you did to _me_ in the sixth year?" Draco says lowly, dangerously. Harry stills and glances awkwardly at the mirror in the room.

"You think I don't remember you cutting me up and almost killing me? When you so confidently walked into the bathroom while I was having my little breakdown, and when you decided that perhaps I needed to bleed out?" Draco continues angrily.

Harry's face contorts into anger, and his wrists strain against the cuffs.

"I didn't mean to do that-"

"Oh, what _did_ you mean to do? Just wanted to play a little prank on me? What, do you make a habit of cornering people in the bathroom and slicing open their chests?" Draco asks. His hand unconsciously raises to touch his scars through his shirt. He's lucky Snape had dittany for his face. He glances down at the photos in his hand and holds one up to Harry.

"This is Milli's- _Bulstrode's_ father. I met him when I was young."

Harry is white and he keeps glancing at the window. Slowly, Harry's anger becomes more silent, less visible. He relaxes and turns his head lightly on his side.

"Shut the _fuck_ up Malfoy. You don't know what you're talking about. Maybe you should go back to Britain, with the rest of your Death Eater _friends,_ " Harry says carefully. His eyes are threatening. Draco scoffs and stalks forward to drop the photos back on the table.

"You put most of them in _prison, "_ Draco says. The tone is dry.

Malfoy takes in a deep breath and masterfully calms his expression. Tenseness falls out of his shoulders as he crosses his arms.

"For Teddy's sake, you better have not killed these people. Don't think I'll just go back home without telling the muggles here what they need to know, " Draco says.

"They can hear you, _idiot, "_ Harry responds. Harry is relaxed too, but despite their relaxed bodies, the air is tense and Harry can almost taste Draco's malevolent magic bundling up and holding itself down.

Draco is shocked still for a moment before he calmly responds.

"Well then that's a bit bad for _you,_ isn't it?" 

Draco turns and heads to the door. As he exits, Harry catches a glimpse of the agents immediately asking Draco to answer some more questions for them in a different room

* * *

The team watches Draco stride into the interrogation room. They watch as Draco sits down and explains himself to Harry. Then, they watch Draco tense at the sight of the photos. 

"Fuck, we left evidence photos in there, should we go get them?" Morgan asks.

Rossi shakes his head no and tells them to watch Draco closely.

"He's angry and he doesn't trust Potter anymore. His whole opinion changed because of the photos, " Rossi says.

They watch and listen to Draco reference to an apparently bloody past. They note that Harry glances guiltily at them through the window.

_"You think I don't remember you cutting me up and almost killing me? When you so confidently walked into the bathroom while I was having my little breakdown, and when you decided that perhaps I needed to bleed out?"_

The team grimaces and glances at one another. Hotch sends a message to Penelope asking her to look into Harry’s school.

Reid is calculatingly watching the interaction. Carefully, he whispers,

"The bodies were found outside or in bathrooms, Draco's presence in California could've triggered something in Harry,"

They watch as Draco unconsciously moves a hand to his chest and pressed against the fabric of his shirt. A scar then. 

"How could Malfoy have triggered Harry?" Rossi wonders aloud, as they watch Draco get angrier and angrier.

"Maybe Malfoy yelled or hit his godson, or maybe Malfoy accidentally injured himself in some way reminded Harry of the past?" Morgan says.

"I don't think it'd be the first one, Draco seemed sentimental towards the mention of Teddy," JJ says.

"He was actually jealous of Harry's guardianship of Teddy. When I talked to him earlier, he really did seem to care for his cousin," Hotch says.

_"Shut the fuck up Malfoy. You don't know what you're talking about. Maybe you should go back to Britain, with the rest of your Death Eater friends,_ "

They quickly looked back over to observe Harry's different demeanour. He seemed colder. He was threatening but confusingly defensive. 

"What is a Death Eater?" JJ asks and she looks down to sift through her notes. Reid straightens and robotically responds.

"Death Eaters were the names of people in coup d'état, slash, terrorist group in Britain and various European countries. They aren't as active anymore, and their leader is unknown. They are responsible for the gas line bombings a few years ago. There is surprisingly little information about them, but the names of members have recently been exposed. Most of them were part of classified branches of government. Penelope and I were going to explain earlier, but Malfoy arrived. Many people part of the group has a tattoo of a snake intertwined with a skull. Possible interpretations of the tattoo are-” 

“Thank you, Reid, that’s enough,” Hotch cuts him off. 

_"For Teddy's sake, you better have not killed these people. Don't think I'll just go back home without telling the muggles here what they need to know, "_

"What is a muggle-"

"A muggle is most likely slang for idiot or imbecile, as part of its root form seems to be 'mug' which was used in the 90s to describe the poor and uneducated. I haven't heard of the term muggle before, but I guess that might be because-"

"Thank you, Reid, _that's enough,"_ Hotch repeats

“Malfoy is leaving, we need to get some more information about Harry’s schooling years,” JJ says.

"And we will definitely be seeing if the coroner has gotten times of death yet," Rossi adds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you see any mistakes, please tell me! Happy Pride Month!


	4. Extra Nemesis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco tries his best to aid in the investigation, but really he's just helping dig a hole for poor Harry.

Draco Malfoy sits in another one of the BAU offices and idly wonders what the BAU knows about the victims. He himself is in a governmental job, and despite his distaste for muggle culture, the various ways people govern and control will always be interesting to him.

  
The Wizarding World is not completely idiotic, despite much _much_ evidence pointing otherwise. And maybe pens are better than quills. That isn't a big problem though, and various governments have come up with ways to fix a much bigger problem. The technological advancements of muggles keep getting closer and closer to recording magic. Wizards are lucky that invisibility charms work on cameras, that most charms and transfiguration spells cause technology to fizz and disrupt. Wizards are lucky that muggle devices are usually useless around magic.

  
That doesn't mean that generally, more physical magic goes unnoticed. It does, however, get misunderstood by muggles. You can't exactly prevent wizarding herbs from spreading seeds, and a plant or two is bound to end up in a muggle's backyard. Chocolate is a whole conspiracy in and of itself. Haha, the muggles went and slapped "dopamine" on the explained page of Nestle with so much confidence.

Constant short-circuiting of devices in a concentrated area? Definitely not because a magical pub and shopping district exists there. Scientists say it's because gravity is just slightly different there. Some muggles truly believe that it's because of ghosts- which is honestly quite rude considering the fact that no real muggle has seen a ghost. It's not possible for them to see ghosts.

  
Wards aren't enough to keep muggle corporations from bulldozing through places that wizards own. There's a limit to muggle-repelling wards when digital data is recorded regarding the property.

  
So, naturally, wizards found a rather dramatic way of fixing this. A sort of coming-of-age for the adult witch or wizard. At a certain point, regardless of how many servants someone has, a new lord will have to go into the muggle world and figure out all his or her needs for owning property. 

  
It's not like there's a surplus of magical farmers. Purebloods can own unethical factories with underpaid muggles too. Many pureblood lords and ladies eventually have to venture into the muggle world so that they can prevent muggles from attempting to build parks on wizarding fields.

  
And since purebloods are usually politically involved in the wizarding world, they can definitely sneak in and create jobs for themselves in the muggle world.

  
It's not like they have enough wizards to grow the food that purebloods like. Purebloods can buy a few farms in the muggle world easily. The conversion rate is fucked, but not enough for purebloods to take over the world.

  
The ministry has the Unspeakables choose and decide what the muggle world needs to know. Select muggle officials know a little bit of what the Wizarding World is, but those select muggle officials have magic in their families. Connections. It’s not as though every president and every king or queen is aware of magic. 

  
Draco doesn't know what other countries do, but probably something similar.

  
At some point, after Grindelwald and Hitler, many wizarding people decided it was smart to participate in muggle elections. It wouldn't do to have someone too smart in charge of the muggles.

  
It's definitely messed up for wizards to aid in electing idiots, but most of them hardly care for the future of muggles. (Which is quite idiotic considering the proportion of elderly witches and wizards to young witches and wizard.) It's just not something most of the old people in the ministry care for. Hermione goes absolute apeshit over this sort of thing. at least the Unspeakables refuse to let the ministry flood muggle governments with goblinized gold. 

  
Any suspiciously large gold transactions found in the muggle world are heavily investigated. And heavily punished. We can't have people fucking up the entire world. it's not very stable, even to wizards, for one person to waltz into government facilities and steal important information from muggles. Those smart asses are Legally Assassinated. 

  
What do you think they did to Voldemort's ashes? The Unspeakables had much fun pouring that shit into the death veil. Along with any bones of the relatives of Tom Riddle. And they threw in Tom's wand too.

  
Honestly, the number of times the Unspeakables have had to prevent the stray half-blood or muggle-born from using magic on important muggles is insane.

  
You'd think that they would be happy with their house-elves and bigger-on-the-inside mansions, but no. They want power too.

The Unspeakables don't just deal with experimental magic. 

And that's what Draco thinks about when this muggle agent named Morgan asks about his schooling years in "The Private Institute Of Alnwick."

_The codename the Unspeakables use for Hogwarts is fucking "The Private Institute Of Alnwick." The fuck is an Alnwick?_

“What do you want to know?” Draco says.

Agent Morgan is sitting across from Draco and the other agent, Reid, stands off to the side watching them.

"How well do you know Harry? You seem to have a history with him," Morgan asks.

Draco scowls, for the thousandth time since he's arrived, and he clears his throat a little.

"I don't know him closely, but we've interacted enough over the years to be considered acquaintances,"

Reid's eyebrows furrow slightly and, to Morgan's surprise, Reid stalks closer and asks Draco questions too.

"Why did Harry attack you in your sixth year? Was it due to your association with these victims? About the tattoo-"

Draco cuts him off,

"He thought that it was fine to sneak up on me while I was rather-" Here, Draco harrumphs lightly "rather frazzled. And when I reacted negatively he started going mad on me. He didn't win the encounter, I was just tired and he caught me during a bad time. "

Morgan can't believe how trivial Malfoy is making the event sound. Considering Malfoy's strong reaction in the interrogation room, they were hoping Malfoy would easily give information on Harry.

"You said he cut you open, didn't you? Were you tired because of your own personal habits or did he happen to drug you? We need to know if the event was intentional-"

"Of course it was bloody _intentional_. Well, at least a little intentional. He was always sneaking around and spying on people! And I was _just_ tired. He wasn't intending to kill me or anything and if he was I'd have won by the way." Draco rants as he sits back against the chair. He watches the two agents glance at each other. Reid speaks again.

"Do you not find the event traumatic?"

"...Of course not. We were just kids, he couldn't have actually done anything to me," Draco says quietly.

Reid continued pressing,

"How did the confrontation end?"

"A teacher found us,"

"What if he hadn't found you?"

"...Potter wouldn't have just left me there-"

"How did he attack you?"

"He just _did_ okay-"

"Did he hold you down when you were cut?"

"I was _standing_. He slashed at me the fucking bastard-"

"Why wasn't be punished for his actions?"

Draco was about to respond before his eyes widened and he looked off to the side, thinking. Then he looked back at Reid, indignant,

"...fucking hell, he didn't get punished! The motherfucker-"

Morgan's eyes widen and Reid glances back to Morgan with confusion.

"Who was the teacher that found you? Does he still teach? What is his relationship with Potter like-"

"He's dead. _Professor_ Snape died from a-" Draco grimaces and coughs lightly, "-a venomous snake bite." Draco's face hides his grief. But for profilers in their line of work, they easily recognize the grief behind the death.

Reid and Morgan send him pitying looks before Morgan turns Reid and forces him to slow down.

Before they can ask more questions, Hotch is at the door with a solemn face and a phone to his ear.

"They found another body, younger than the other victims but with the exact same MO,"

Draco pulls a smug smile as he gets up and collects himself,

"See? Potter couldn't have done it, so let me take him back to Britain,"

Reid and Morgan ignore him as they pick up their things to leave. Before Draco excuses himself, Morgan tosses him a wry smile.

"We still don't know the time of death, and we've got enough evidence to trial Potter. _He's staying,"_

Draco huffs and struts out of the room, heading out to floo back to one of his family homes in France.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, things are getting kind of hectic in the world. I'll try my hardest to continue writing this fic. I'm, I'm too lazy to update this fic on my fanfiction.net account, so you guys get to read it first! Tell me if you got any questions or complaints or criticisms!


	5. Evidence

The BAU examines photos of the crime scene together. They can't exactly go to the scene of the crime itself because it's in California, but at least the images they were given were actually taken by an adequate photographer.

As they rifle through photos of the mildly bloody bathrooms, they can't help but think that _this_ death was more personal than the others.

The victim, another ex-politician with a European citizenship and little-to-no available background, is sat up against the door of the public bathroom. However, unlike the other victims who were fatally slashed but then cleaned up and wiped down almost _respectfully_ , this victim was still messy and much more painfully killed- not to say the other deaths _weren't_ painful. Instead of the victim's tattooed arm being hacked off, the tattoo itself had been carved off and _taken._ The tattooed skin wasn't at the crime scene.

"We need more information on our victims. What's so different about this guy? He's around the same age range as the other victims, and he seems to come from the same level of social class," Rossi wonders aloud. Reid squints and closely examines the photo of the skinned left forearm.

"The cuts made to take off the skin are almost perfect! There's no indication of the victim flinching or moving away from the cuts, but the cuts were also made before post-mortem! It's as though the victim willingly had it removed, but no one could possibly sit through that without even flinching-" Reid exclaims with wonder. Morgan grimaces and furrows his eyebrows as he turns to look at the forearm photos.

"You're right, but maybe the victim was given some sort of numbing drug?" Morgan brings up the photo of the chest slashes and compares the two, "but these ones were clearly done with the intent to inflict pain, and there's obvious tearing from movement, "

"Penelope, do they got a time of death for this one yet?" Hotch asks.

Penelope hums lightly as she refreshes the digital information being shared by the affected county's coroner.

"March eleventh, he died in the middle of the night at around hour seven,"

Hotch scowls and rifles through the recent death reports of the other victims. All have been killed near the end of February and the start of March.

"That's five whole days before Potter was taken in, he still could have been the one to do this," Hotch says.

Nervously, Spencer suddenly spoke up,

"I-I was actually wondering if you'd let me talk to Potter?"

Hotch stills, eyeing Reid, before sending a meaningful glance to Rossi. Rossi shrugs slightly and turns to Reid.

"We're worried that he might have a breakdown or something of the like. After the visit from Malfoy, Potter hasn't spoken at all. He hasn't even asked for water or a bathroom- we give it to him regardless of course, but still," Rossi explains gently. Reid frowns before looking at Morgan. Reid hums before speaking again, more confidently this time.

"Just send in Morgan or JJ when you think he'll attack me. I don't think he has much of trust in authoritative or strong-looking people so I'm _perfect_ -" Morgan opens his mouth to retort but Reid continues on, "-I _know_ I don't look threatening. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, but I don't explicitly look like it so he might feel more relaxed around me,"

Rossi sighs before walking over to notch and patting the man's shoulder.

"He's right. Spencer might be able to get Potter to actually react genuinely. Even when around Malfoy, Potter was tense and untrusting," Rossi says.

After a moment of silence, Hotch gives Spencer the go-ahead and they all get ready to set the interrogation room back up.

* * *

As Harry waits in the interrogation room _again- for like the fourth time since he's got here!_ He absent-mindedly gazes over the various scars that he's accumulated over the years.

Unfortunately, he's been stuck wearing the same short-sleeved t-shirt for the past few days. He's done his best to make sure his scarred hands aren't made too present and he's done his best to lay his arms in a way that would hide his injuries from the war and Voldemort.

He knows they could be watching him right this moment, but he feels strangely calm. So he's letting the room's light shine on his inner forearms and he's shamelessly looking over the long, pale scar left on his arm from when Voldemort truly came back.

It's strange how out of all the scars he had gotten from the war, this one is the one he dislikes the most.

It's jagged, made to have been painful on purpose. It's existent and ugly and while Hermione does her best to make sure he knows that scars like these- like the ones he's got from _enemies_ \- aren't something to be ashamed of, Harry still feels guilty. Guilty for feeling upset that it wasn't immediately healed when he tumbled back into the arena. Guilty that all he got was a scar, while his friend got death. Guilty that it was _his_ blood that brought Voldemort back.

It doesn't help either that some muggles or unknowing witches and wizards see the scar and think that Harry _himself_ was the one that caused it. He has nothing against mental health problems, but he feels indignant at the thought that the damage that _Voldemort_ had done was being blamed on himself.

The door to the interrogation room suddenly creaks open and Harry is quick to readjust his arms. He wonders who they've sent in this time because that tough guy and then that uncomfortably kind man were honestly _so_ untrustworthy. He's also very curious as to whether or not they've brought more _good_ food. Regardless, he keeps his head down and ignores the person entering.

* * *

Spencer is a professional and he's seen a lot of really fucked up shit. He's _been through_ a lot of really fucked up shit. So he's not all that scared to walk into another interrogation room to interrogate another suspect. Potter isn't even confirmed to be the killer.

From what he's observed of Harry Potter, Spencer can conclude an obvious three things;

That Potter was most _definitely_ abused for a long period of time at some point. Most likely throughout the important developmental stages of childhood.

That Potter is well aware that the scene he had with Malfoy did not win him any favours.

That Potter instinctively held himself in a way that constantly covered specific parts of his body. Whether it be to protect himself or to hide something from prying eyes, Reid wasn't completely sure of.

Either way, Reid knew how to deal with cases like these. Honestly, getting someone to admit to skinning somebody else wasn't as bad as some of the other things he's had to coax out of people. It might be just as difficult, but it wasn't the most gruesome thing he's heard somebody describe.

Spencer trusts himself to get to the bottom of this case. After all, even the deaths of corrupt politicians are important to stop. Who knows how certain killers could escalate? What happens when killing corrupt people turns into killing people with even the slightest wrongdoing?

His line of work is very delicate. If he has to lie to somebody in order to get things done, he will. He isn't going to let some asshole go around taking law into violent, bloody hands.

If Potter is a goddamn killer, Spencer is going to find out.


	6. Reid in the Lion's Den

Spencer carefully seats himself across from the currently-uncuffed Potter. All he has with him currently is a pen and a pad of paper, but those two things can still be deadly in the wrong hands. Spencer holds in a grimace at the memory of somebody jabbing a pen into a guard’s left thigh.

He clears his voice slightly and curiously observes as Harry avoids his gaze.

“I am agent Spencer Reid. We found another body,” Spencer says first. His eyes are focused on taking in Potter’s response.

Strange. Not exactly surprise, but not exactly satisfaction either is found in Harry’s reaction. Could this mean that Harry expected them to find more bodies? Or perhaps the lack of satisfaction is because he wasn’t able to see the reactions to the body this time.

“You see, we were wondering you perhaps, “ Spencer’s naturally quick voice sounds shaky, and Spencer is only slightly embarrassed by it, “recognize the victim’s name? I don’t have the pictures with me now, but his name was Corban Yaxley-”

Harry seems to recognize the name, and Spencer is a small bit disturbed when he also notices Harry trying to keep in a smile. A small bolt of anger courses through him as Harry purses his grinning lips and hides his face a bit more.

“You recognize him, Harry, I can tell. If you could just tell us you did it, this whole interrogation could be over and we can probably get you to be sent to a nice mental institution instead of a prison-”

Harry scowls and looks up at Spencer with a venomous look,

“I didn’t do it, and it doesn’t matter if I confess or not because my friends will get me out of this whole thing  _ soon. _ Also, I’d like to have that ‘call’ that I’m supposed to have legal rights to? I’ve finally remembered the number,” Harry snaps. He stays seated in his chair but his fists clench tightly.

Spencer sighs and idly scribbles in his notepad.

“We have enough information to trial against you, Potter. If you could just give us information that points to you  _ not _ being the murderer, then that’d be very helpful. If you didn’t do it and somebody is threatening you in order to keep you quiet, we can help,” Spencers says. His eyes flicked to Harry’s clenched fist and he immediately takes note of the words  _ carved _ into Harry’s hand.

_ “I must not tell lies,” _ Spencer half-mindedly whispers aloud. His mind races to understand the implications, and the cause of the almost-perfect scarring of words. Potter has a quite impressive collection of knives, which point to experience and confidence when handling them. Potter is left-handed too, so the scar existing on Harry’s right hand is important. It looks slightly old, but it’s scarred in layers, as though it had been carved multiple times.  _ Did Harry do that to himself when he was younger? _

Suddenly, Harry is standing and glaring at him harder than before. Spencer carefully pushes his chair out and puts some space between him and Potter.

“How about you don’t read me like that,  _ Spencer?  _ If you’re supposed to be part of the ‘Best BAU team ever’ I’d expect you to be more respectful around scars and injuries.  _ Fuck off _ with whatever you’re thinking right now, it’s probably  _ wrong,”  _ Harry spits out. His left hand has moved to cover up the carved words and his shoulders are raised up defensively.

Spencer takes in a deep breath and stops himself from taking his eyes off Harry to glance at the window. He slowly moves a hand and gestures to the window in a ‘Stand-Down’ motion. He’d be real disappointed if Morgan or JJ decided to barge in  _ now.  _ Slowly, Spencer meets Harry’s angry eyes and adopts what he hopes is an understanding look.

“Hey, it’s okay. I didn’t mean to bring up any bad memories. It was just surprising is all. Did somebody do that to you?” Spencer says as kindly as he can.

Something he said must’ve pleased Harry because he immediately relaxes and sends a sheepish look over to Spencer. Harry stretches slightly before sitting back down.

“Sorry, I just don’t like it when people look at my scars,” Harry whispers before his left-hand raises to press his black bangs over his forehead. Spencer keeps in the desire to glance up at whatever Harry is covering.

“Don’t apologize, it was on me. Are you comfortable with telling me where you got it? It looks familiar,” Spencer presses. However, it certainly  _ wasn’t _ familiar. He’s seen words carved into skin before, but the scar Harry had must have been continuous and maybe even done with obsession. He just wants Harry to relax. It works.

“I had a Professor, well she was more of a power-crazy bitch that always nagged, haha we knocked some sense into her for a while, but-” Harry coughs and runs a thumb over the scar, “-she had gotten angry with me and made me do lines all the time, every night because I was a fucking idiot who had trouble shutting up and well, um, actually-” 

Harry’s eyes widen and his mouth swiftly shuts. He’s surprised at himself for admitting something like that.

Spencer’s interest spikes and he writes down Harry’s exact response, momentarily forgetting that they were being recorded.  _ Lines? _ As in, Harry had to write something over and over? Did Harry later begin carving the words into his hand because of the repetition? Was it an  _ actual  _ Professor? And what did Harry mean by ‘knocked some sense into her’? He needs a sample of Harry’s handwriting. He doesn’t know how the pressure of cutting against rounded skin would affect lettering, but it might be useful regardless. Spencer sends Harry a tight smile and he shrugs in a casual way.

“Despite what people would think, I’ve had my own fair share of detentions. There was this one professor that always got angry since I corrected his lectures a lot. Was she like that?” Spencer asks.

Harry nervously presses his nails into his opposite palms. Silently thinking to himself that,  _ Hermione would be pissed if he broke the Statue of Secrecy like this. _

“Umm, yeah. I guess,” Harry says. He begins to close up around himself again. He moves his arms to lay against his thighs underneath the table. Damn, this is why he was shit at occlumency, wasn’t it? He usually overshares with things like stuffed animals and babies. This was a new low.

Harry chuckles softly and sends a peculiar smile over to Spencer.

“She is probably similar to whatever teachers you’ve had. Though, I’m sure they probably don’t deserve the sort of things  _ she _ deserved,” Harry says softly with a faraway look.

Spencers laughs awkwardly and suppresses a shiver. With all the past-tense Harry is using, Spencer is half-convinced this teacher met an unpleasant end. If she was still alive, Spencer will probably need her name in order to send somebody to check on her.

“Does she have a name?” Spencer asks carefully.

Harry’s eyes seem to sharpen and a small frown forms on his face. He looks strangely calm and strangely pissed at the same time.

“You don’t need it,” 

Spencer nods slightly and begins to stand up to leave. He sends a goodbye to Harry but doesn’t get anything in return. It seems that Harry won’t be saying anything else for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the two short chapters! Things have been sort of hectic as of late. I'd appreciate any criticism! I'm definitely going to be writing more of HArry's perspective, so please excuse his strange behaviour right now! I don't plan however on doing Harry's perspective of this interrogation.


	7. Patroni and Practical Application

So maybe he hadn't thought this through.

Harry glared uselessly at his new handcuffs, the muggles thought his last little interview was a bit much. And now he had to wear cuffs in his own room- well, his 'holding' cell.

He  _ did _ say that he didn't do it! These muggles just  _ think _ he did it, and maybe his small bit of fun was taken the wrong way. It's not like he can explicitly say "Hey, these guys were murderers! They honestly deserved it!" without them twisting it to fit whatever complex they formed on him.

Bored, Harry abruptly sits up off his prison cot and sides up towards the door. He looks out at the guard through the spaces of the barred door window.

"Hey, buddy, aren't I supposed to get a call or something? And like, you can't  _ really _ keep me here for this long, right? It's been like, four days," Harry asks carefully.

The guard glances back at Harry before his gaze is torn away and focused on the wall opposite to the cell.

"You're under federal custody, under suspicion of foreign terrorism and assassination of several political figures. The FBI can contain you for up to two weeks, " The guard says stiffly.

Harry rolls his eyes and makes a show of shaking his cuffs around.

"I haven't hurt anybody here, think you can uncuff me?"

"That isn't under my jurisdiction sir, "

"Call me Harry, "

"Please back away from the door sir, "

Harry sighs and moves back to sit on his bed. He glances about the room before settling his eyes upon a camera attached to one of the corners of the ceiling. He smiles at its lens and gives a wry smile.

And suddenly, the camera short circuits. Tiny sparks jump off it and a tiny red LED shuts off.

Harry looks at his hand incredulously before looking at the camera with confusion. 

A small, fluorescently blue otter swims through it, and towards Harry.

He relaxes at the Patronus, Hermione's Patronus. He glances worriedly at the door, but the guard remains focused on the wall opposite the cell. 

The Patronus dances through the air and stops in front of Harry. It's small mouth opens and a floaty, whispered, version of Hermione's voice filters through.

"Don't worry Harry, we're planning on breaking you out of here in a few days. Just sit tight, and for the love of Merlin, don't make them any more suspicious. I don't know how quickly my Patronus can reach you, but I thought it'd be nice anyway to warn you that the Minister is sending Draco over to provide counter-evidence. Don't fight with him, please? See you soon, " the message ends

And the Patronus bows once before spinning and disappearing in a cloud of blue mist.

Harry huffs slightly at the mention of Draco, but he appreciates the fact that Hermione tried to warn him. He wishes he could send a message back, but his wand was taken when they arrested him. At least the camera of his cell was broken down; he could at least  _ try  _ to apparate without his wand. Though, perhaps getting horribly splinched and leaving behind a limb or two would be bad.

The door to his cell opens and Harry is immediately taken to a cell with a fixed camera. There goes the idea of practising.

* * *

“He keeps saying that he’s innocent, but then we keep getting more incriminating information and he keeps acting strange! No normal being would act like him, but at the same time, he seems genuinely uncomfortable when we interrogate him about the victims. But even that isn’t consistent! He goes from seemingly civilian in every way to alert and spring-ready! And The times where he _ is _ uncomfortable are also filled with him looking smug!” Reid ranted. Morgan sits across from him, quietly scribbling over his notepaper. Morgan sighs and places down his stuff.

“We don’t exactly need a confession at this point. Almost everything we have points to him being guilty. Even the other BAU teams think he’s guilty,” Morgan says.

Spencer nods distractedly as he goes over his plotted out notes. 

“But it doesn’t make sense at all! All the evidence points to him, but lots of other psychological evidence says otherwise! Why  _ now? _ Why  _ politicians?  _ With his background, why wouldn’t he be targeting families that adopt or take care of nephews or nieces? The only relation between him and the politicians seem to be his old prestigious school and their children. Do you think this could be linked to the terrorist attacks that happened a few years ago? How would he be affected? Why does his government keep sending us unprecedented requests to let him go? It’s like they think we can just give him away!” Reid continues.

A security guard comes in and presses his lips into a thin smile, waiting for them to regard his presence. Morgan addresses him first,

“What’s up? Something happen?”

“Mr Potter’s cell video feed seems to have been disrupted. The camera fried and we don’t know how. He’s been moved to a new cell and nothing else seems to have happened, but security thought you guys should know anyway,”

Spencer looks sharply at the guard before glancing at Morgan.

“Would it be possible for Garcia and I to take a look at the camera?”

* * *

Garcia pokes tentatively at the split dead camera they had retrieved from the cell.

“What happened to this poor thing Reid? I don’t think I’ve ever seen an untouched camera look so thoroughly fried! And only the wires were affected! The glass and the plastics don’t seem to be changed at all, but the actual wiring itself looks like it was dropped in oil and then baked!”

Reid tilts his head from side to side as he stares over the pieces of the security camera.

“Potter wasn’t anywhere close to it when the feed stopped, and he was still fitted snugly in his cuffs when security moved him,” Reid wondered aloud.

Garcia furrowed her brows as she picked up the broken piece of tech.

“Y’know, this happened to some of my old um-” Garcia winces slightly, ”- _ colleagues.  _ A lot of the people I knew sometimes lost some of their stuff to things like this. I never saw their broken tech, but the way they described it sounds a lot like the way this looks,”

“Their computers?”

“No, more like their drones, cameras, and sensors. Though I think at one point, some guy came in to try one of the custom computers and the same sort of thing happened. Pretty weird right? Some people say it happens because the government has nanobots that seek stuff out to destroy information.” Garcia coughs and a blush spread over her face, “Which is completely ridiculous of course. That stuff’s not real, I think. Right?” Garcia asks Reid uncertainly.

Spencer gives a light shrug, but then he stills and glances at Garcia’s computer.

“Think you can pull up any online references to things like this happening?”

“ _ Of course I can,” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the short chapter! Things have been a bit hectic where I am, and idiots keep crowding my workplace and I have to clean far too much!!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter though!


	8. Redheads

Susan Bones and Ron Weasley are at the front desk at the Virginia base for the BAU.

Ron, who is more confident and somehow even taller than he was as a teen, impatiently taps his foot against the ground as he leans back on the front desk. Susan has a more professional image- she’s standing straight and perfect if not for her head which remains focused on the sheets of paper in her hand. Both have red hair, but Susan’s is darker than Ron’s.

“Ms Bones? Mr Weasley? We were just informed of your visit and your, well-” Hotch says as he approaches. Ron cuts him off smoothly, straightening up and meeting Hotch’s eye level.

“We’re here to pick up Potter, yeah? Where is he?”

Hotch’s demeanour immediately switches from polite professionalism to a more defensive form.

“I believe you  _ requested _ to switch Potter’s investigation from us to your ‘Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism.’ It wasn’t a complete agreement on our part, and we were hoping to come to a settlement of sorts. The murders  _ were  _ done on US soil,”

Susan smiles at him with the most humouring grin Hotch has ever seen. They aren’t taking him seriously.

“Though the incidents were done on American soil, the victims and your suspect are entirely of British and European citizenship. It would make the most sense to transfer the ‘case’ to our people,” She says lightly. Behind her, Weasley nods with the notion of ‘yeah, what she said.’

Hotch delivers his own tight smile and glances at the tense receptionist, the poor lady looks intimidated by this meeting between foreign governmental agencies.

“How about we move somewhere more private to discuss this further?” Hotch says, walking towards his office without letting them offer otherwise. A petty form of power play, but they follow and Hotch has always been used to compliance.

* * *

Morgan puts down his annotated files with an air of frustration.

This entire case has been far more convoluted than even _ they _ are used to. Mr Malfoy has been ignoring their contacts and Harry seems to refuse any further interviews despite whatever food bribe they can come up with.

Furthermore, Garcia and Spencer seem to be falling down some random rabbit hole involving failing electronics and disturbances in electrical fields. He had to convince Spencer to not meet up with a bunch of sketchy scientists that are studying ‘strange’ properties of some rare plants that supposedly emit electromagnetic energy.

Yeah, the camera malfunction in Potter’s cell was strange, but Reid and Garcia’s increasing interest in some subject far,  _ far,  _ unrelated to their case shows that they really are spiralling.

And if that weren’t distracting enough, Potter himself has been acting suspiciously relaxed. There really was no way for Potter to have gotten into contact with anybody, and the last time he requested to phone somebody, he stopped and sheepishly admitted that he didn’t actually know any numbers to call.

It feels like only he, Hotch, and Rossi are still invested in the case. Even JJ has been distracted lately with choosing a pre-school for her new kid.

Morgan glances up and towards Hotch’s office, and is surprised to see that Hotch apparently has a meeting with two foreigners.

Foreigners, he concludes, because their voices raise with Hotch’s as they argue over their current case and he can hear their accent through the walls.

Morgan raises an eyebrow towards Hotch and Hotch notices him, discreetly motioning for him to come over. Morgan sighs, gathers his things, and heads toward Hotch’s office.

* * *

Harry is not particularly used to comfort. Not with his childhood spent in a cupboard, not with his teen years sharing one room with many other boys, or in his later teen years and adulthood on the run and Horcrux hunting. It's not something he's that stingy about, usually. Really, he doesn't really care about cricks in his neck or aches in his spine.

That doesn’t mean, however, that he wouldn’t  _ prefer  _ comfort. And the thin mattress on a wire bed frame is a bit bad on his back. He can’t wait to finally get out of this place.

* * *

  
  


Morgan quietly enters Hotch’s office, files in hand. His eyebrows raise at the sight of an obviously frustrated Hotch.

“Ma’am, you don’t seem to understand that my  _ team  _ has already put enough work hours into this case. I’m giving you the possibility of working alongside us and sharing the case but it would be a waste of work and information if we were to just give you full ride over the case. Furthermore, despite the victims and suspect not being of American citizenship-” Hotch’s careful explanation is cut off by the guy.

“Then give us whatever notes your team has collected,” the man smiles sharply and continues, ”I assure you that we could get this case done faster than whatever you do here. Besides, wouldn’t your head of branch prefer for a ‘terrorist’ to be taken out of the US? He really shouldn’t have been your problem to deal with at all,”

_ Wow _ , Morgan thinks,  _ What a condescending asshole. _

Hotch looks about ready to bite the man’s head off so Morgan quickly steps more into the conversation.

“Sorry, who are these people?” he asks, purposefully looking towards Hotch for information instead of facing the two foreigners. Out of the corner of his eyes, he sees the woman make a discreet hand motion at the red-haired man.  _ Weird, sign language? _

“This is Ms Bones,” Hotch gestures to the woman, “and Mr Weasley,” Hotch finishes. He still looks tense.

“Could you show me where the bathroom is?” Weasley suddenly asks, eyes focused on Morgan. He’s smiling genially enough.

Hotch stiffens next to him, and Morgan suddenly feels an instinctual warning of ‘Danger!’ shoot up his spine. He glances at Hotch and gives a slight shrug before turning towards Weasley.

“Sure, follow me,”

* * *

  
  


As Ron follows the agent to the bathroom, he begins to slide out his wand. When they get there he thanks the guy. Another tense smile.

“I’ll wait outside here and take you back when you’re done,” the man says, With a quick glance at any nearby security cameras and seeing none, Ron subtly reaches into his pocket. 

Immediately, the man tenses and moves to pull out a weapon, but Ron is quicker.

A single stupefy is all it takes for the guy to no longer be a danger. With another spell, Ron levitates him into a stall and locks it.

Cool. Now where to find Harry?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one, sorry. I've just been a bit stressed lately


End file.
